This Weekend I’ll Mostly Be Listening to… Spial Floor April 1, 2017

Acclaimed avant garde Canadian pianist Spial Floor has been much talked about in recent times.

His Please Recycle Me EP, released on vinyl on Canada’s avant-garde Dragnet label (check out some of their other releases which span the spectrum from musique concrete to the neo-New York School and all points in between) and available on download from his band camp page (not accessible for the last few days – presumably due to the huge increase of public interest since that incident in Toronto a week or so back at the Colin McPhee Classical Festival 2017).

Also included is a special remix of “Usurpation” by Michigan Scene producer and electronica maven fRail Loops – a contemporary of Ardvaark62, Morcombe Bay and Rontgen. It’s a short but busy two minutes where Loops deconstructs Spial Floor’s work and recontextualises it in a hyper-contemporary setting (and note this is a free download, which is characteristic of Loops approach of only playing sets at free festivals and open access events).

Floor remains secretive about his identity. There’s a rumour that he’s a cousin of Justin Trudeau, which may account for the political tilt to his mesemerising minimal excursions. It’s just piano and him. There’s a dizzying aspect to the work. Usurpation and Extinguishable tell us from the opening notes that we are in the presence of something very special indeed. Music to be listened to, savoured and treasured, not just for today.